Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest Is Infested with Antisemitism
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Turning Point USA — the far-right, Christian nationalist group run by Charlie Kirk — is kicking off its annual AmericaFest in Phoenix on Saturday. TPUSA bills AmericaFest as a bash for “like-minded” conservatives to celebrate “the greatest country in the world, America.”
But in addition to patriotism, many of the gala’s headliners appear to be of like mind about something much darker: a distrust, distaste, or outright hatred of Jewish people. The celebration comes on the heels of Kirk himself having been called out by prominent conservatives for creating “an anti-Semite problem” for the right.
AmericaFest will be kicked off Saturday night by Roseanne Barr — the far-right comedian, who this past summer not only voiced Holocaust denial, but made a call for violence against the Jewish people. “Nobody died in the Holocaust,” Barr said on a June podcast with Theo Von. “That’s the truth.” Barr followed that lie with an even more shocking statement: “It should happen. Six million Jews should die right now, ‘cause they cause all the problems in the world.”
Barr’s remarks were denounced by Jewish leaders as “Nazism.” In a statement, Barr’s son wrote: “We think it’s funny that people are so stupid … not to recognize Roseanne is being sarcastic.”
Barr is an extreme example, but she is far from alone among TPUSA speakers in making troubling comments about Jews. Jason Whitlock, a host for Blaze Media, this June denounced “Jewish pride” as an “affront to God,” while insisting that Jews are in league with LGBTQ minorities and Black Americans in the pursuit of power and “a one-world government.” Whitlock acknowledged during the segment that, “I will be accused of being an antisemite,” but added that this is “what happens in a nation of ‘pride.’ The groups that lean into pride, wield the power to silence their critics.”
Blaze Media was founded by Glenn Beck, who is also speaking at the TPUSA celebration. In his previous incarnation as a Fox News host, Beck uncorked a hateful rant about “puppet master” George Soros, in which he accused the left-wing billionaire, a Holocaust survivor, of somehow being complicit in the death of fellow Jews. The Anti-Defamation League deemed Beck’s comments “horrific” and one writer memorably described the segment as “some of the most offensive anti-Semitic imagery ever purposely shown on American television.”
Other top TPUSA speakers also have an offensive track record of voicing anti-Jewish rhetoric and conspiracy theories. They include Georgia Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who infamously blamed western wildfires on satellite weapons controlled by the Rothschilds, a.k.a. “Jewish space lasers.” (Addressing that controversy in a new book MTG insists, “I have no antisemitic sentiments whatsoever.”)
AmericaFest star speaker Tucker Carlson has routinely attacked the Jewish president of Ukraine, with claims about Zelensky’s “rat-like” appearance and “shifty” behavior, withk commentators criticizing Carlson for trafficking in “antisemitic tropes.” In recent weeks, Carlson hosted longtime TPUSA contributor Candace Owens on his Twitter show, where Calson described his “hate” for Harvard’s “biggest donors” for “allowing” and “paying for” calls for “white genocide” on campus. Owens — who has also been accused of using antisemitic dog whistles — will also be speaking at AmericaFest.
Kirk, TPUSA’s founder, has been called out in recent weeks for promoting anti-Jewish ideas himself. Kirk hosts a popular podcast, on which he parroted the same antisemitic trope that landed Elon Musk in such hot water: “It is true,” he alleged, “that some of the largest financiers of left-wing, anti-white causes have been Jewish Americans.”
Kirk has also been decried as antisemitic for floating a conspiracy theory on his podcast that the government of Israel issued “a stand-down order” to its military to allow Hamas to wreak deadly havoc on Oct 7, as part of a calculated power grab and pretext to invade Gaza. Fox New contributor Ben Domenech tweeted, “If Charlie Kirk remains the head of TPUSA, the right has an anti-Semite problem that will follow them into the coming elections.”
Red State founder Erick Erickson blasted TPUSA as “an antisemitic grifting organization” — combining criticism of Kirk’s comments with a reference to a recent AP report that the TPUSA empire has made its founder suspiciously rich. Kirk later defended himself from his conservative critics insisting, “Asking questions does not make you anti-Israel.”
TPUSA’s spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from Rolling Stone about the pronounced strain of antisemitism in AmericaFest’s speaker lineup. But judging from the outside, the hateful undercurrent looks like a feature, not a bug.
He is not a speaker at AmericaFest, but one of the leading hype men for TPUSA is an “ambassador” named Evan Killgore, whom Kirk’s organization touts as “an outspoken Christian and Conservative commentator” who refuses to be deterred by the “woke outrage mob.”
In October, Kilgore launched a Twitter poll asking if the conspiracy theory lofted by Kirk that Israel “allowed the breech” were true. (The winning answer was “Yes. It’s obvious.”) Kilgore has also voiced disagreement with the conservative Ben Shapiro by writing: “You can’t have your hummus and eat it too, Ben.”
Kilgore is also apparently a fan of the Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes. He recently tweeted with enthusiasm about an exchange between Fuentes and Alex Jones on Infowars, with Kilgore writing that it “broke down the entire argument of support for Israel” as “the ultimate war between good and evil.”
Kilgore continued: “Nick suggests that Christian in the West, who follow Jesus, should question their support for Jews, who hate and reject Jesus.” He summarized, without challenge, Fuentes’ argument: “Israel is ultimately on the side of the anti-Christ, or Satan.”
Asked to clarify his views Kilgore wrote: “The Rolling Stone can kiss my ass. You are fake news and push propaganda that strokes division in America.” He also recently replied to a Twitter video — of Alex Jones demanding that Jews “let us control our own countries” — with a single word reply: “Based.”
AmericaFest is a big tent and will feature plenty of speakers who hold themselves out as foes of anti-Jewish hate. Senator Josh Hawley, the GOP Missouri senator who raised a fist of approval to the Jan. 6 rioters, is slated to speak. Ironically, Hawley recently passed a Senate resolution condemning antisemitism on college campuses. He’ll be joined by Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who has recently demanded Harvard hold its president accountable in the flap over congressional testimony by Ivy League leaders, in an open letter blasting his alma mater as an “incubator of bigotry and antisemitism.”
MAGA world will be well represented at AmericaFest, with speeches from Donald Trump Jr., Roger Stone, and Steve Bannon. As will the conspiratorial fringe, with appearances by diehard election denier Kari Lake, 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy (who at the last GOP debate insisted that Jan. 6 was an “inside job”), and OG Pizzagate promoter Jack Posobiec.
Beyond the myriad far-right speeches, AmericaFest will feature breakout sessions for those attendees interested in “The Gospel and the Government”; “The War on Sex: Porn, Feminism & the Sexual Liberation Movement”; and — sure to be a hit — “Girls Gone Woke: Why Young Women Need Ayn Rand.”
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